I'm gonna defend Tom Cruise as an actor

[DerekG]

Unlike his composite, Julia Roberts (who does turn in the same performance in every film), Cruise has a decent record, with a few milestones:

"Born on the Fourth of July"
"Interview With the Vampire"
"Eyes Wide Shut"
"Magnolia"
"Minority Report"
"Collateral"

The personalities in the aforementioned films are disparate, and Cruise sells each one, coming across as intense and haunted.

C'mon, cut the guy a little slack.

[EnfantTerrible]

1. There's no accounting for taste.

[libbygurl]

2. "intense and haunted" in the exact same Cruise control, though. n/t

[skypilot]

3. He's not my favorite actor or anything but...

...I've never understood the animus towards Cruise. People are always describing him as arrogant and cocky. I don't think he comes off that way. He has a face that an arrogant or cocky person might have but I don't feel those negative traits emanating from him as a person or as an actor--unless there's some obnoxious episode during the course of his career that I missed. He is what he is.

[terrya]

4. He's pulling down $25 mil per film to play essentially the same character.

I respect your opinion, DerekG. I don't agree with it, though. A one note actor.

[BlueHandDuo]

5. In which sense isJulia a "composite"?

"A conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts"
or
"Considered the most highly evolved dicotyledonous plants, characterized by florets arranged in dense heads that resemble single flowers"
?

(Definitions from WordWeb)

[joeybee12]

6. Don't think he's much of an actor, BUT he does have a lot of screen

presence. That says a lot in the movie business. When he's on the screen, you're focused on him.

The problem I have with his ex--the talentless Nicole Kidman, is that she cannot act and has NO presence. You look at everyone else except her.

Never heard anything really bad about Tom's behavior on the sets, so I'll cut him some slack.

[Misunderestimator]

8. Kidman was damn fine in "The Hours"

[joeybee12]

9. She was laughably horrible---I could not believe the depths of her

IN-ability to act!

[Misunderestimator]

10. Whatever you say.

:shrug:

[joeybee12]

11. Ok, so we're not going to agree. Let's just admit that

I'm right and call it a day!!!!!!!!!!! Seems like a reasonable compromise to me!

[Misunderestimator]

14. And I take it that you SAW "The Hours?"

[joeybee12]

17. Yup--Julianne Moore was the only decent one in it--of the top three,

that is. Meryl, once again, was over the top. Nicole thinks that grimacing is acting.

[EnfantTerrible]

15. I disagree

She had one scene... at the train station. The rest was about her OBVIOUSLY fake nose. I was so angry after seeing that movie that I wanted my money back. A gross dis-service to a fantastic book.

That said... I do think she is a fine actor and far deeper than her ex.

[shadu]

12. I find him irresolute at all times

He is too frail to play a tough guy and he cannot act.
He always plays himself. Plus I think he is a friggin' pea brain.

[joeybee12]

13. I agree about the pea brain part--none too bright, but you don't

need intelligence to be an actor! Different parts of the brain, I guess.

[shadu]

7. The guy cannot act. Not one wit.

Please look anew at Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro
for REAL acting. "Fear and Loathing" is a good example -
both actors play very challenging roles that are out of
character, even for them. As you watch that movie think about light weight Cruise cast in one of those roles.
No way. The acting is so good it is easy to forget who the actors are.

[EnfantTerrible]

21. Too true...

Might I also add Sean Penn to that company...

Imagine TC in, say, Hurly Burly and contrastingly Sweet and Lowdown

[Trajan]

16. Cruise has had some amazing roles ...

Might I remind detractors of his role alongside Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man: still an eminently watchable movie ...

Furthermore: I dont think I can EVER get enough of the last 40 minutes of 'A Few Good Men', where Cruise is simply electrifying as Lt. Caffey, HAMMERING Col. Jessup with a fiery performance that I would rank as among the GREATEST all-time film moments ....

Think Robert DeNiro in 'Taxi Driver' .....

Think Gregory Peck in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' ...

Cruise has had some boners: but the man has had some masterful work as well ...

Some of his detractors here couldnt shine his shoes ....

[joeybee12]

19. Rain Man was the one movie I thought Tom was good in---I

thought Dustin was passable, but Tom carried the movie this time.

[redqueen]

18. No argument here. n/t

[MaryBear]

20. I saw him on Jon Stewart's show last night.

Definitely easy on the eyes!

[FunBobbyMucha]

22. Yeah, he's not horrible, just not much range.

When he sticks to a self-centered (some might argue auto-biographical) character, i.e. Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, and the new Collateral, he's quite a presence onscreen. It's when he stretches (Interview, that excretable Samarai thing) that he looks like a rank amateur.

I ignore all things Entertainment Television, so his personal baggage means nada to me.

I think there's a place in the world for a matinee idol with limited skills, and Tom has made some great movies over the years. To use the always-used comparison of Sean Penn (the two started together in Taps, btw, with TC as the psycho character and Penn as the reasonable good guy--who woulda thunk it?), Senor Penn couldn't have played Jerry Maguire. Would've sucked in that role.

If you wanna talk limited range, let's talk Will Smith, Ali notwithstanding.

Sympathy for the devil.

[henslee]

23. Ewwwwwww. You are joking. Here's my take on these films.

Born of the 4th.-- not too convincing in that freaky facebeard

Interview -- total teenybopper crap.

Eyewideshut -- same hotshot he always plays -- Marverick grown up and living in the big city. Real smirky. A meandering film. Kubrick's folly.

Magnolia- can't beat a guy up for a cameo but a lame pretentions film.

Minority report -- VERY GOOD PERFORMANCE, excellent film.

Collateral - Who can tell? I fell asleep whch was amazing considering how loud some scenes were. Film felt so long, like it was shot in real time. From the same guy who made Thief and Heat???? Yikes Michael Mann has lost it.

Risky Business and Rainman, I liked alot but I was a lot younger and they may be guilty pleasures, I must re-watch. I even like Fourth of July when I first saw it. Hard to watch on cable.

[mark414]

24. i agree

and i'd like to include all the films you mentioned, and i really liked the first mission impossible as well

the second one, however, blew goats (sorry for the visual)